Ten Movies that are so Poetic
Expressing a story to the audience is a very important aspect of storytelling. Most people can pen down an excellent plot but thinking and expressing are two different processes. A few storytellers handle this exceptionally well and play with the medium. Such storytellers deliver absolutely poetic movies. But what does the term poetic mean? While searching for the cinematic explanation for the word “poetic”, we must forget its literal meaning. In cinema, poetic means something more than mere fantasy dialogues and eloquent action sequels. A film is a mixture of media like visuals, dialogues, story, characters and their actions. And when the filmmakers choose any of the above term and play with abstract metaphors in it, a film transforms into a Poem!
1. A Bittersweet life (2005)
As mentioned earlier, the plot itself and its execution are two different things. The way violence is depicted in this movie is fantastic and absolutely post-modernistic. Every characters’ actions and the ending of the movie get along exceptionally with the justice that is being served in the story. Even simple scenes in the movie will leave you amazed. To be honest, A Bittersweet Life has an ordinary plot but the way it has been filmed and executed makes it a gem which every cinema lover should not miss!
2. Eternal Sunshine of The Spotless Mind (2004)
There is a very good chance for this film to be the most unique Sci-fi drama you would ever see. The writer plays with memories and the changes of time in the movie. The swaps between the past, present, future and the world inside the memories allow the dots to be connected in a serenely poetic way. The visuals in the movie are stunning and perfectly complements the plot. This movie breaks the laws of conventional symbolism with an entirely new approach.
3. The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (2007)
The film’s major strength is its unconventional way of portrayal of characters. The mystical aspects of Jesse James provide ample tense moments in the film. The visuals are beautiful in every single frame and the whole film looks like a stage play, which is partially confirmed in the ending of the film. Conclusively, the film is essentially a play with modern literary elements like predestination. Only an actual poem could aim to create a similar feeling and response in the minds of the viewer.
4.Arrival (2016)
Tragedy, beauty and suffering are the primary constituents of everyone’s life. This film takes all these constituents and depicts each of them beautifully. This makes sure that the film stays in the hearts of the viewers forever. The visual and sound design give us a wonderful experience and watching the film is guaranteed to give the viewers a feeling of reading a seamless poem. Most of Villeneuve’s films master in theme coating and “Arrival” is the best example in the lot. The film talks about the complex analogy of language, space, time and being. Films like these are the ones which emphasise the need for the existence of art in our lives.
5.Memories of murder (2003)
The film can be easily classified as a modern-classic noir. The film has a ton of elements to be analysed and studied if you are an aspiring writer. Irrespective of the impact they had in our lives, memories are always beautiful. The film narrates throughout in forms of memories of a murder lying in the minds of various characters and this concept of narration has been executed brilliantly. The ending of the film is one of the best and the most iconic I have ever witnessed.
6.Wind River (2017)
The movie has the perfect plot to execute a poetic film. In fact, it looks like a poem crafted inside another. The opening shot of the film contains the lines, “There is a meadow in my perfect world, where wind dances the branches of a tree”. If you look closely, it is actually the plot of the film. Human’s metaphor with animals and hunters are the top notch in the film. One of the beautiful movies of the past few years.
7.Inception (2010)
Every time I think about this film, I wonder what it takes for a person to make a film like this. Inception is a fictional poetic drama which should never be missed. Nolan completely banked on our emotions and belief and has nailed the script to perfection. In addition to the narration, the poetic soundtrack and the stunning visuals equally amazes us. The splattered literary lines and the messed-up timeline sets up the mood to watch the remaining of the movie with utmost interest.
8.Biutiful (2010)
The film shows us a brilliant way for interpreting philosophical concepts like existence and afterlife. There are a lot of conventional emotion driving elements like a suffered protagonist and gloomy situations in this film. The credit goes to the film maker for making these age-old techniques work. The way the film has handled the concept of magical realism is magnificent and deserves an applause. There is a lot to learn about surrealism from this film.
9.In Bruges (2008)
Dark matter and comedy are staged together in this movie. The empathetic visuals make the audience feel the soul of the film. I enjoyed the way the movie portrays violence and additionally it has a few very interesting characters. The dark comedy portrayed has really worked and the dialogues in the film are poetic and metaphoric in a modern way. The script, as far as I can see, is perfect, embroidering lofty themes with the earthiest of dialogue. The belief and principle of the characters make the movie very poetic and unique.
10. There will be blood (2007)
The film is very slow paced as it is a conventional element in great poems and literature. The visuals and religion criticist dialogues make us wonder if we are reading a book. The film contains plenty of metaphors. One such example is a scene where Oil acts as a metaphor for Christ’s blood. It signifies that Oil is the blood of the earth and the world runs on it. Oil caused the Industrial revolution and shaped the economy of 19th Century America. In addition, the film portrays similar characters who only enrich their own lives and would put down anyone who stops them to ground.
-Amuthan M,
EIE, Final year.
(Note: The views expressed in this article are solely the author’s opinion and does not reflect SJC’s political stance nor opinion.)
